Byakuya's Secret Obsession
by IggyJules
Summary: Byakuya is the busy leader of Kuchiki Estates, and not at all prepared for what happens when he hires a new secretary to work for him. A lighthearted romance comedy. Byakuya x fem!OC.
1. No Romance

Eyes slightly squinted, Byakuya Kuchiki stared at the red cross on his calendar, and sighed. Eight hours until the would have to negotiate a deal of utmost importance, if not the most important in the history of his company.

Kuchiki Estates™ had been under his command for two years now, though its former leader, Ginrei, still had an eye on everything Byakuya did. He enjoyed his job as a CEO even though it came with huge responsibility and meant working overtime every day.

Usually, that was no problem for Byakuya – he had no family on his own that he would have to make time for yet, so he could pour all his energy into the family business he inherited.

Today, however, he felt the burden of being responsible for the company's success weighing heavily on his shoulders. The 29-year-old was to meet the leader of _Wandenreich Inc_., Mr Jugram Haschwalth, a potential customer of great importance.

The meeting could yield millions if it went right. And there was his grandfather's voice echoing in his head, reminding him – "don't blow it!"

He would try his best. But first he needed a cup of coffee.

As if on cue, Renji Abarai entered his office. As his right-hand-man he would console Byakuya every morning before the work day started, to discuss strategies, tasks and financial plans.

Also, he was his much needed supplier of coffee ever since Byakuya had to discharge his former secretary.

Turned out she was stealing not only mugs but also toilet paper; of course Byakuya had to let her go for such intolerable behavior.

"Mornin'" Renji mumbled, sipping his coffee, "doing alright, Kuchiki, Sir?" Byakuya didn't answer and instead loaded Renji's free hand with files. "Work through those. I will need them later" he briefly informed his employee.

"Ah, Wandenreich?" Renji figured as he skimmed the papers, "almost forgot this was happening today. Well, lots of turmoil lately… is _she_ here already?"

Byakuya looked up. " _She_? Who?" he wondered. "The new girl!" Renji enthused, "the new secretary! Should be her first day today, or isn't it. Oi, Kuchiki, have you forgotten about that?"

Byakuya had indeed. His mind had been on the Wandenreich deal for over a month now, so how would he manage to make time for petty business like new staff?

"I hope she's hot" Renji then bluntly blurted out, and Byakuya almost choked on his coffee. He cleared his throat and chose to remind Renji about his grandfather's policy. "No relationships among employees, Abarai."

Renji looked disappointed for a second, but quickly remembered he didn't actually care. "Well, secret romance sounds intriguing, too, so…" he shrugged and made his way to the door. "If there's nothing else to discuss I'll start working on these papers now" he said, "and I'll see if she's here already so I can instruct her a little…"

Byakuya shook his head. "No need for you to bother with this. She will be my secretary, so I will take care of it. You just make sure these files are impeccable."

Renji rolled his eyes before turning away, still sporting a smug grin, as if he was up to no good. Byakuya didn't like the look on his face at all.

"No romance!" he shouted after him.

The door snapped shut and he was alone with his thoughts and worries about the big deal.

This was going to be a stressful day, he could feel it.


	2. The new Girl

Three cups of coffee and a whole pile of papers later, Byakuya heard the door of his office open. _Finally_ , he thought, assuming the new secretary had arrived.

Hadn't he told her eight o'clock? It was already half past. Her first day and already late. Well, as long as he wouldn't find her stealing office property any time soon…

Byakuya got up from his chair to introduce himself to her, mentally preparing to scold her for not being on time.

When he came walking around the corner and got a first glimpse of his new secretary, though, all thoughts vanished from his mind.

He stopped and stared.

She was tall and her long, black hair swayed as she walked. As she spotted Byakuya, she immediately reached out to shake his hand quite enthusiastically, a bright smile gracing her radiant face. He noticed her straight, white teeth contrasting with her dark skin.

"Hi, I'm the new secretary for Mr Kuchiki. My name is Trixie Rae, and I was asked to report to him, can you help me?" she began to introduce herself; Byakuya was surprised by her high, clear voice. She seemed to be only a little older than his younger sister Rukia, barely out of high school.

"Hello, Miss Rae" he quickly pulled himself together, trying to sound confident and calm, not at all as if her appearance had rattled him, "I'm Byakuya Kuchiki. Welcome to our team."

"What, _you_?" she wondered, "I expected somebody much older to be the leader of Kuchiki Estates."

Once again, Byakuya was dumbfounded. That was her first reaction to him? Didn't he look capable enough to be leading a big company?

He almost felt insulted, but then his gaze slipped down, first noticing her dark blue polka dotted dress, then her slim, long legs. She was wearing high heels, too.

Byakuya quickly averted his gaze and cleared his throat. "Alright, Miss Rae, should I show you around the office?" he offered, generously choosing to ignore her comment about his age.

"Oh, one of your colleagues already did! Abarai was his name I think. He said you'd be busy at the moment anyway, and wouldn't mind me showing up a little later. I'd be happy to start working right away" she explained, leaving Byakuya with a weird feeling sinking in.

Abarai had already talked to her? Hadn't he told him to leave her alone just an hour ago? "Sure" Byakuya just said.

For some reason he was feeling weird about the fact that Abarai had just stolen the opportunity from him, even though he hadn't actually planned to waste much time on the new secretary. And why was it bothering him in the first place?

Byakuya cast the thought aside and concentrated on business matters again. Well, at least she appeared to be efficient.

He led her to her desk, quickly went over the most basic instructions and then asked if it was her first time working at an office. "No" she answered, "I did several internships after I graduated high school, so I hope I'm well prepared."

Needless to say Byakuya liked the answer. Efficient and knowledgeable. She sat down behind her new desk right away and booted up the computer.

"Perfect. So, familiarize yourself with the program we are using, and feel free to contact me if you need anything. I'll be sending over some files right away for you to proof-read" Byakuya said.

She nodded, smiling back at him.

He just stood there, watching as she turned away an focused on the computer screen. Her long, slender fingers started working the keyboard.

"Weren't you going to leave?" she reminded him after a while; Byakuya woke from a trance.

Without another word he abruptly turned around and walked away.

 _Great_ , he thought to himself, _first day and she must already consider me a freak_.


	3. Distraction

The hours were crawling by at a snail's pace. It was only ten o'clock and Byakuya had already finished all the work he had scheduled for today.

He checked his wristwatch once more, only to see that a mere five minutes had passed. He opened his web browser, logged into his mail account, and then checked the time again.

Was it acceptable to see how his new secretary was doing even though he had just done so half an hour ago? Would she think of him as a control freak or would she appreciate the attention?

Byakuya sighed and got up.

There she was, sitting with her legs crossed, her neatly manicured fingernails racing across the keyboard. Byakuya didn't walk up to her right away but chose to stand a few feet away so she wouldn't notice him just yet.

Ever so gracefully, Trixie pushed back the long strands of dark hair that kept bothering her, then took a sip of water and immediately returned to work.

It had only been an hour and a half into her first day of work, but Byakuya felt she was already more productive than most of his staff.

He wondered which task he could bother her with just to have her smile at him for a second – he didn't actually need anything but couldn't think of another reason to talk to her besides business.

»Ah, Kuchiki-sama« he suddenly heard her say, »can I help you with something?« She must have turned around and noticed him; her voice brought Byakuya back to reality.

He shifted and said »Miss Rae«, voice forcefully firm and in control, »I just wanted to check on you, see if everything is fine, since it's your first day here. I'm always very invested in the well-being of new employees, you must know« he lied. He couldn't remember ever having checked on a new staff member before.

Trixie's face lit up a bit more. With a cheerful undertone she noted »oh, how considerate of you, but there's really no need to waste your time on me. I'm doing alright. I'll be sending you the files I've been working on as soon as I'm finished.«

For some reason, Byakuya felt the faintest hint of disappointment; he wouldn't have minded at all going through the program with her and explaining everything in detail, but unfortunately Trixie had it all figured out already.

»Well, fine« was everything Byakuya could say now, »then I'll get back to my own work. Feel free to tell me if there's anything you need.«

She glanced at him again, a wink in her cat eye, cheerful and sweet, and then immediately focused on her excel charts again.

Byakuya turned around and walked back to his desk, feeling dumbfounded.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

This kind of behavior became a pattern – the entire day Byakuya felt restless, walked around way more than usually, stopped himself from checking on her too often, asked her to bring him coffee way more than necessary, and happened to space out on a regular basis.

By the end of the workday, he was suffering from a caffeine overdose and a major dissatisfaction he couldn't pinpoint the reason for.

It also didn't help much than there had been a red shock of hair sneaking around the frosted glass walls of his and now also Trixie's office the entire day; Byakuya knew exactly what Renji was waiting for, and he was determined to thwart his plans.

Much to Byakuya's surprise, however, Renji seemed to have already gone home by the time Trixie finished up to call it a day.

 _That's exactly what I've always been telling him_ , Byakuya thought to himself, _he's not as successful in life because he isn't willing to go the extra mile_. He wouldn't even stay overtime to ask her out.

Byakuya on the other hand had always gone the extra mile, and even further. His grandfather had expected him to after all, and he wouldn't be leading a business as big as Kuchiki Estates if he hadn't.

And now there was a new opportunity to prove himself, he felt. An opportunity named Trixie Rae.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

All bags packed, ready to leave, Byakuya came around the corner and stopped at Trixie's desk again as he had done plenty of times today.

She was bending over, looking for something in her purse, and the first thing Byakuya noticed was the scandalous length of her polka dotted dress. The length of her ebony legs was exposed almost entirely; he swallowed.

This company didn't really have a dress code, but most of its employees came to work wearing a suit and a white shirt; now that he was thinking about it, Byakuya wasn't going to change anything about it.

He knew he should turn away instead of blatantly staring at her back, but something was keeping him from averting his gaze.

»Got it!« Trixie then suddenly exclaimed and pulled a rubber band from her purse, threw her dark brown hair back and pulled it into a casual ponytail. Then she noticed Byakuya.

»I'm done for the day« Trixie smiled, pointed at her desk were a bunch of files were neatly stacked, and waited for Byakuya's approval.

The stoic black-haired, however, failed to react.

»Well…« the young secretary continued talking, »I really had fun today, actually. I expected an office job for a real estate company would be boring as hell, but turned out I was wrong! So, tomorrow at eight, right?«

»Right« Byakuya absentmindedly answered.

Did she just call his trade boring?

Was _he_ boring to her?

A strange feeling started to sink in; he was confused by her bluntness yet at the same time positively surprised. Most women he had met in his life had been unstinting in their praise for him and his company, telling him everything they believed he wanted to hear. They had been predictable, easy to handle and, for the most part, hadn't piqued his interest.

Yet there was she, saying things that confused him and caused him to feel insecure for some reason. Insecurity wasn't a feeling Byakuya was overly familiar with.

He remembered he had to say something. »Wonderful. I'm glad you're enjoying your time here« was what his brain came up with.

Sometimes he was surprised how he was able to function like a machine even though his mind wasn't in it. Maybe Renji was right and he was indeed slowly turning into a robot.

If the meeting with Wandenreich's representative were to go just as smoothly and automatically he wasn't going to complain.

 _Right. The meeting_.

A different feeling burned its way through Byakuya's guts like a hot iron.

But Trixie was still smiling. Byakuya tried his best to smile back, unable to remember when he had last pulled the corners of his mouth upward like this.

»Oh, Kuchiki-sama« Trixie then spoke up again, »since you offered to show me the premises a little earlier… I was wondering whether you'd like to grab a cup of coffee after work today, you know… to get to know each other a little? Because you said you were invested in new employees…«

Byakuya took a few seconds to realize what had just happened.

Had she asked him for a date? A serious date? Getting to know each other and everything? His automatic brain seemed to crash and went into a state of emergency.

»Ah… yes« he heard himself mumble before he could properly think about the matter.

The meeting. Tonight was the Wandenreich meeting.

There was about an hour and a half left, and he still needed to talk to Ginrei beforehand. Not enough time. So he corrected himself. »I would like to get to know you a little better, Miss Rae, but I'm sorry to say I'm busy this evening.«

He forgot everything else he was going to say when he saw the disappointment in her huge, dark eyes. She seemed to function as well as Byakuya normally did, too, and immediately regained her composure.

She gave him another bright smile. »Sure, I understand. Of course the leader of Kuchiki Estates would be too busy for such trivial things, right?« she shrugged it off and finished with a laugh. »Then I'll see you tomorrow!«

Byakuya just stood there and watched her leave.

Did he… just turn her down? Did he ruin his opportunity? He most definitely did. Now she was thinking he declined her offer because he didn't care, and he didn't take the chance to speak up and inform her about the real reason for saying no.

He would have to clarify immediately as soon as he would walk in here tomorrow, first thing in the morning…

Byakuya's cellphone started ringing, startling him. _Ginrei Kuchiki_ it read on the display _. Goddammit_. The meeting. Byakuya forced himself to forget what had just happened and accepted the call.


	4. Mess-Making

The cold air was disheveling her hair, ruining her ponytail, until strands of black hair were obstructing her sight.

Maybe she shouldn't come to work by scooter any more, or her new colleagues and boss would end up seeing her look like a plucked chicken at some point.

 _I'll buy a car with my first pay check. This time for real. Think less environmentally-conscious, Trix._

Trixie let go off one handlebar and pushed her hair back where it belonged. There was a thought in the back of her mind, and now that she had time to think it came pushing to the front until it was the only thing she could focus on.

Why? Why did he turn her down?

To her it had seemed he hadn't been able to stop looking at her the entire day long. Was she mistaken thinking she had stirred his interest? He did say he commonly cared for new employees after all, so maybe she had read too much into his gestures and gazes?

Or maybe he had simply been honest when he said he was busy tonight…

Trixie sighed and pulled into the driveway of the apartment complex she was living in.

Upon entering her flat she was greeted by the many posters of Ambassador Seaweed she had put up all over her walls. Trixie knew she might be getting too old to fangirl over a teenage idol, but he was her favorite pop star after all and she wasn't ashamed to admit it.

After putting on comfortable clothes, she made her way to the kitchen and pulled a few thick slices of cheese out of her refrigerator; because she felt like comfort eating she also added a bowl of chocolate pudding.

Today would be nothing on TV that was worth watching, but she switched it on anyway and let herself slump down on the sofa. Trixie kept switching channels until she got bored and decided to watch a mindless animal documentary – one could never go wrong with animals.

Absentmindedly she checked her phone and found two messages, one from her father asking if she was planning on dropping by this week, and another one from her godfather wanting to know if her first workday in a new company had gone well.

Trixie didn't feel like answering right away; in hindsight she didn't know whether today had been good or not, so she put her phone away again, but not without checking her Instagram first.

If Byakuya had an account, too? Was he one of those modern CEOs that pulled in clients by sharing their luxury lifestyle online?

Or was he more like her godfather who steadfastly shunned anything that had to do with social media even though she kept telling him how beneficial it would be for his company to establish an online presence?

Trixie noticed how little she actually knew about her new boss, given the fact that he was some sort of local celebrity.

Everybody living in Karakura knew his name and face, but of course, since most of them were transferring their monthly rent to his bank account.

The business side of him, that was what everybody was familiar with. She had no idea what Byakuya Kuchiki was all about in private, though.

He had seemed stoic and maybe a little supernatural, with his pale, even skin, his aristocratic, elegant features and his expensive black suit, but then on the other hand he had also been kind and supportive, checking on her way more often than necessary… Trixie had found his concern to be sweet.

Was he single? Would such a man ever be single, actually? She knew the answer.

 _Of course not. I bet he's engaged to a supermodel._

She didn't expect this thought to bother her the way it did.

Trixie tried to focus on the documentary again but failed since the mating calls and -rituals of cockatoos weren't exactly the most interesting thing right now and hence didn't pose as sufficient distraction from the thoughts about Mr Kuchiki.

Had he just been polite today, wanting to help her out so much? Or was he genuinely interested in spending time with her?

If the latter were to be the case, then why would he decline when she asked him out and didn't even suggest to go an other day instead?

»Argh what the hell!« Trixie exclaimed and buried her face in a pillow.

First day of work and things were already turning into a mess.

 _Why does that always happen to me?_

It wasn't that she had planned to like that man's handsome face so much! It wasn't her fault this time, it was his, being the way he was and acting the way he did!

And those eyes…

Munching away on the cheese and the chocolate pudding, Trixie planned to give it her all tomorrow at work, to be most productive, to look the cutest and be the sweetest to make sure Byakuya would turn out to like her if that wasn't the case already.

She just couldn't help wanting to be liked, maybe even desired, by this special person.

And usually Trixie had no problems getting what she wanted.


End file.
